Hopes and Expectations
by L.R.T
Summary: Sequel to "Heart Attack" and "Here to There". Professor Sycamore isn't the only one interested in the mystery of mega evolution as two villainous teams join forces to put a very dangerous plan into action. AU-ish. Spoilers for the games. Cities and characters based on the games. JessiexSycamore. Implied unrequited Perfectworldshipping. Rating for adult themes. IN PROGRESS.
1. Prologue

Hopes and Expectations

L.R.T.

* * *

Progress was slow as construction crews and their Pokemon removed rock after rock. The small stone hut that once was the entrance to the secret Team Flare headquarters had been turned to rubble, the ground underneath caving in on itself. The sounds of the steel beams creaking, readying to buckle under the weight, rang in the workers' ears and made the already arduous job even more hazardous.

The ground in Geosenge Town was unstable, the blast that the ultimate weapon created in its destruction uprooting the stones that the small town was known for. The stones, having been there for as long as anyone could remember, left holes crumbling with earth, their own natural support beams now scattered in varying sizes of stone throughout the town. The crater in the middle of town was the most unsettling as it seemed to grow, devouring more and more land around it with every passing day.

Several villagers had already packed their things and left, starting out a new life entirely elsewhere; others stayed despite protests from the workers, Officer Jenny, and Professor Sycamore himself. It was hard to argue with stubborn folk that refused to give up on anything - even their ever-sinking town - until they absolutely had to. They had made the concession to move to the less damaged homes on the outskirts, far away from most of the sinkholes. Most seemed to think that everything would stop as suddenly as it began and all they would have to do would be to fill in the holes and rebuild. No one else was quite as sure as they were about that.

While waiting for the headquarters to be unearthed, Professor Sycamore, Jessie, and Meowth tried to make themselves at home in the cramped cabin in the forest outside of town. Small enough already, it was made even smaller by the gigantic setup of surveillance TVs in the middle of the living room, the only furniture they could see other than a dusty couch against the wall and wooden chair in front of the wall of televisions. The bedroom had a fairly large bed that took up most of the space, the door barely making it past the end without smacking into it. Connected to the bedroom was an absurdly small bathroom which consisted of an equally absurdly small shower and toilet and a mirror hung crookedly on the wall above several exposed pipes - presumably where a sink once stood. There was no kitchen but whoever had been there before left behind a mini fridge that they had to wash three times and leave outside overnight afterward to rid it of the smell of food gone rancid.

Meowth spent most of his time trying to get the now-defunct surveillance equipment to work - with no shortage of profanity, hissing, and flat-out smacking the TVs in the side repeatedly with his tiny paw. Eventually he got the screens up only to be met with static from all but two. One was a view of Lumiose City, the other indecipherable as all they could see was sky.

Apparently Team Rocket had sent up several of the cameras many months ago to watch what was going on in the Kalos region. They were robotic and flew around the region in the guise of a Pidgey. After the ultimate weapon was destroyed, Giovanni scrapped the whole thing, not getting very much useful info from it anyway.

It gave them all something to do as they people-watched the bustling streets of Lumiose from their cabin, making up long and complicated stories to go along with some of the visitors that they saw. They made a guess each day as to where the other one was flying about and, if ever revealed, the person closest to the correct answer would get to make the other two pay up.

Weeks passed before the former headquarters was deemed safe enough for searching. When Professor Sycamore finally got the word, he was a little shocked to hear Jessie ask - _demand_, really - to go with him.

One of her reasons for wanting to come with him on the excursion in the first place had been to finally see Geosenge Town again and maybe put any leftover feelings about what had happened there to rest; he honestly never thought she would go through with it. How could he refuse, though?

Dressed in shorts and a t-shirt (something that she was still getting used to, her Team Rocket uniform having become a second skin after all those years), Jessie kept a few steps behind Professor Sycamore on the walk to town. Meowth joined them for the same reason as Jessie and also for support in case she lost it. He kept in stride with her, taking glances up at her every few minutes until she noticed and smacked him, telling him to cut it out.

The professor came to a stop by the edge of the treeline and turned to look back at her and wait for her to join him. He was worried beyond measure what this might do to her; she had been doing so well since their run-in with Lysandre and the last thing he wanted to do was give her a reason to crawl back inside herself again. Stopping her this time was only delaying the inevitable, though.

Jessie could feel her stomach churning the closer they came, a sharp pain in her chest causing her breath to catch as the strewn stones and holes in the ground came more and more into view. She wondered why in the world she felt the need to do this. He was gone and he wanted her to stop making herself feel guilty and being so stubborn - about what, she still didn't know - why rip off the band-aid when the wound was only partially healed?

She came to a stop next to Professor Sycamore, a little surprised at how little had actually changed in the town in the months since the explosion. Devastated homes were still the same piles of lumber and rubble she only now vaguely remembered from that day. The sinkhole was monstrous and foreboding, some dirt and rocks falling into the depths even as they stood there watching.

She reached out and gripped his hand, her eyes still scanning across what was left of Geosenge. He squeezed her hand in response, checking with her several times before entering the town itself if she was absolutely sure about what she was doing. She wasn't but it would be ridiculous to turn back now and have this dark cloud hanging over her head for months - or years - more.

The trio made their way slowly along the dusty sidewalks, Professor Sycamore and Meowth keeping their eyes on Jessie throughout. She looked everywhere but the place that she truly feared the most - the place that haunted her dreams and had been the only thing she could see when she closed her eyes for so long... Letting go of his hand, Jessie darted her eyes to her left.

It looked so peaceful despite the homes on either side that had been all but destroyed. Those weren't what she was concerned with. Taking a few steps toward the barren area, she stopped when her eyes finally landed on the boulder that was so out of place. She fought the urge to run and never come back to this terrible place. Starting again, she could almost see him laying there underneath it. He died with the most contented, happy look on his face - she would never forget that dreamy smile as long as she lived. Finally she stood in front of the boulder, slowly turning her gaze to the ground next to it. This was his first grave. The boulder was his first tombstone. The sad irony of the very thing that took him away now becoming a marker for his memory wasn't lost on Jessie.

Tentatively reaching out, she placed her hand on the boulder, a wave of sadness rolling through her the same way it had in the days and weeks after he was buried. She closed her eyes and swallowed hard. She had let herself be swept up in the undertow before, nearly drowning in her own misery; at the moment, she couldn't recall why she ever made herself swim to shore.

A hand came to rest on her shoulder, making her open her eyes and look back at Professor Sycamore. He gave her a sad smile and squeezed her shoulder, eyes full of worry trying to masquerade itself as reassurance.

That act of kindness made her remember the reason she forced herself to go on: him. She owed him too much to give up on her life and let herself become wrapped up in the comfortable blanket of sadness she had gotten so accustomed to.

James wanted her to be happy - and she was trying, truly; but the guilt of ever experiencing that happiness when he wasn't there to share it with her soon took over. It was compounded by even more guilt over worrying Augustine _again_ and by the end of it all, happiness seemed like much more trouble than it was worth.

Meowth placed his paw on the boulder as well, ducking his head to try to hide the teary sniffling that he couldn't keep in. Jessie knelt next to him and placed a hand on his head, lovingly scratching behind his ears. She wanted to join him in his crying but her body simply didn't have anything left to give. Sadness was replaced by numbness, something she much preferred to actually feeling things as of late.

Professor Sycamore was approached by two men in hard hats, welcoming him to the town and work site and giving him his own hat to wear at all times. He began to apologize and ask for a few more minutes with his friends but Jessie interrupted him, shaking her head and telling him to go on - this was the whole reason they had come, after all.

After asking several times if she was sure once again, he begrudgingly went with the men. Jessie and Meowth remained at the boulder, her hand moving from his head to wrap gently around his shoulder and pull him up against her side. Hearing his soft cries somewhere in the recesses of her mind, she closed her eyes again and leaned forward, resting her head against the rock. Meowth laid his head in her lap and curled up, hugging his tail close to his chest.

The two sat there, not saying a word - not even words of comfort or support. They both knew that words weren't necessary and were a waste of time and energy right now.

Pulling away from the boulder, Jessie slowly laid down on the dirt next to it, mimicking Meowth and curling up next to him. She placed her hands under her head, eyes locked on the monument to the man she loved so much for so long. Gaze unwavering, she smiled ever so slightly at the sound of Meowth's quiet snoring, wheezing every once in a while with an intake of breath from his sniffly nose.

The sound of more rocks and earth falling into the crater hit her ears, the crumbling ground echoing through her head. She was certain that this is what her heart sounded like as it broke.


	2. Suspicious Secrets

Hopes and Expectations

L.R.T.

* * *

The discovery of the buried Team Flare headquarters had yielded no results thus far. Professor Sycamore knew that it would be a painstakingly long process to look through everything - especially given the unstable state of the ground - but he was starting to feel a little foolish for ever coming to Geosenge Town. The likelihood that Lysandre had left anything of value behind was slim to none. If he'd lost his ring, he never would've called him up and asked that he come to Camphrier Town; for all he knew, this was part of an elaborate plan on Lysandre's part to slowly drive him mad.

Despite the lack of progress on the mega-evolution front, the former underground hideout had been mostly unearthed, the crews stringing lights along what remained of pathways to rooms that were now filled with rubble. Parts of it looked extremely strange - the cold, futuristic steel contrasted against the primitive rocks and dirt.

Professor Sycamore wondered, if Lysandre had no idea that the ultimate weapon could possibly backfire the way it did, how did he manage to get seemingly _everything_ out in time? From what he'd heard, the ultimate weapon blew up and Flare headquarters followed soon after; there simply wasn't _time_ to gather everything he knew his former friend had on mega-evolution and various other strange pursuits.

The thought crossed his mind that maybe Lysandre knew all along that there was the possibility of this happening and covered his bases long before the ultimate weapon was activated. What would be the point of that, though? Granted, he had no idea how he'd reacted immediately after the incident but, torturing Jessie aside, he seemed to be taking it quite well and was more than ready to move on to the next thing. He would probably never know _what_ the hell Lysandre was thinking, even if they happened to cross paths again.

He tried not to think about things like that, making himself feel guilty and low about it to this day. It may have been easier if he hadn't made clear that he still wanted Professor Sycamore in his life - something he couldn't even fathom then and even less so now since his run-in with Jessie. It still plagued him how he could've been so very wrong about someone and it made him question what else - or _who else_ - he could be wrong about.

It was extremely difficult to keep his mind from wandering on his nightly treks back to the cabin that he shared with Jessie and Meowth. Thinking too much resulted in nitpicking every choice he'd ever made, every situation he'd ever found himself in. His current one, for example, was everything he'd wanted - when written on paper. In actuality, the air in the cabin was so stuffy and thick with sadness in the days after visiting where James died, some nights he would sneak out when he was sure Jessie was asleep and sleep outside to get fresher and less oppressive air.

He questioned whether he should have brought her here. He questioned if he should have let her stay with him. He questioned if he should have chosen to be her knight in shining armor. It all seemed to only make things worse for her; even when he thought she was making progress and laughing, smiling again, the sight of the boulder in the middle of Geosenge Town dragged her back into the mud. He wasn't sure she would ever be able to get out now - even with his help.

Also unnerving was the distinct feeling that Jessie and Meowth were keeping something from him...something beyond a shared experience or feeling; more like a secret that they knew he should know about but didn't care to tell him or have the courage or felt it was all that important. It hurt him to think that even now Jessie didn't trust him or believe that _everything_ about her was important to him.

Emerging one evening from the work site and removing his hard hat, he walked down the dirt path that led back to Geosenge Town. His face was smudged with dirt and sweat, his hair sticking to his face in the wild mess that it was. He was incredibly thankful that, for all its flaws, their home away from home had a working shower complete with hot water.

Heading toward the center of town, something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. He couldn't help but always dart a glance at the boulder, wondering each time if he was to blame in some way. Was there something he could've said or done to change Lysandre's mind and spare so many people so much heartache? His brain had no time to process its usual thoughts when what had distracted him came fully into view: Jessie curled up in front of the boulder, seemingly sound asleep.

He frowned worriedly - he _hoped_ she was asleep - and broke out into a run, his chest burning as he reached her, breath eluding him. Kneeling down next to her, he swallowed hard at the sight of her, the burning in his chest now joined by the same distinct pang that plagued him when he got into bed with her every night.

She laid there peacefully, hands resting under her head and long hair flowing out on to the grass around her. Her face was tear-stained and a few more still were trickling down her cheeks as she slept.

Gently sliding his arms underneath her, he lifted her into his arms, careful not to wake her - the longer he could avoid getting yelled at, the better. Carrying her out of Geosenge and into the nearby forest, he tried to keep his focus on navigating the increasingly dark path and less on sneaking glances at her sleeping form.

Unable to help himself, Augustine darted his eyes down and widened them immediately when two bright blue ones were glaring back at him. Puffy and red though they were, the chill in Jessie's gaze wasn't lost on him at all.

"Hey, you're awake," he said, smiling slightly. He was met with an elbow to the chest, making him let her down to put a hand to the sharp pain. Hunching over, he looked up at her through his sloppy hair. "I had broken ribs not too long ago, remember."

A flicker of guilt came and went from her face like it was simply blown away in the wind, instead replaced by a scowl and her usual defensive stance of crossing her arms against her chest and sticking one of her hips out to the side. He smiled a bit more at the realization that she had been perfecting that pose for as long as they'd known each other.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" she asked angrily.

"Getting you home safely,what do you think?" he replied, still rubbing his chest.

"I don't need you to be my fucking bodyguard."

"I know." Taking a deep breath, he stood up straight again, eying her. "I guess I was just surprised to see you there like that. I was afraid that maybe you'd -"

"What? Offed myself?" she sneered, swallowing down the growing lump in her throat.

"Honestly? Yeah."

Jessie shook her head and turned away from him, unable to hold back the onslaught of fresh tears and refusing to give him the satisfaction of knowing that maybe - _maybe_ - she _did_ need someone like him to drag her away from the intense sadness she'd let envelop her despite her best efforts. "It's the only way I can sleep," she said softly.

Professor Sycamore frowned and took a step toward her. "You mean you haven't been -"

"When you leave? No."

"Jessie, I can explain that -"

"Don't," she interrupted again, lifting a hand to brush the tears away. "It doesn't matter. Whatever it is you do, I'm sure this is probably much more fucking weird."

"It's not weird, though," he replied, cautiously taking one more step in her direction. "I understand." Pausing, he bit his lip and looked at the back of her head. "Is this the reason you and Meowth have been acting so strangely?"

Jessie shrugged slightly, hugging herself tighter. "He wanted to tell you what I was doing but I made him swear to keep it a secret. I'm always back before you come home so I didn't see what the problem was."

"Not always," he said with a small smile.

Turning to face him, she slowly dropped her hands to her sides. He took the gesture to mean he was free to get closer to her and closed the gap between them. Lifting a hand, he brushed away some strands of hair that were now sticking to her cheeks, letting his hand linger there for a moment before letting it fall.

Jessie lifted her hand soon after, using her thumb to try to wipe off some of the dirt on his own cheeks. He swallowed hard, looking into her sad eyes that seemed to be begging for something, as well...or maybe it was simply his wishful thinking.

Taking her hand from his face, he held it in both of his, not daring to look away from her for a moment. "You don't have to hide these things from me."

Shrugging again, she broke their intense gaze by looking down at the ground. "I don't want you worrying about me when you have this important excavation going on."

"Jessie," he said, raising an eyebrow at her, another smile slowly coming across his lips. "Fuck the excavation."

She quickly looked at him again, wide eyes blinking and sending a couple stray tears down. "Did you just -"

He nodded, reaching out to brush the new tears away as well. "Guess I know how to get you to believe me from now on...just drop an 'f' bomb!"

Trying to fight back the smile that threatened to show on her face, Jessie turned her head away from him again and pulled her hand from his gentle grasp. "_Fine_," she said as she crossed her arms once more, "I'll try to be a bit more forthcoming...but don't expect very much. I'm not particularly keen on the idea of sitting around and discussing this and all of that psychological, touchy-feely mumbo-jumbo."

Professor Sycamore put both his hands up in the air in surrender, shaking his head slightly. "I'm not pushing you to do anything." Smirking a little, he added, "Certainly no 'touchy-feely mumbo-jumbo'." He stuck both of his hands into the pockets of his lab coat, shrugging his shoulders up to his ear lobes. "I'm just letting you know that I'm here. That's all."

Jessie nodded, arms dropping as she turned on her heel and started off on her own for the cabin. Softly, her back to him, she said, "I know."

* * *

Rolling over in bed, Jessie reached out and felt only the sheet and mattress next to her, prompting her to frown in her groggy state. Opening one eye, she darted a glance around the room, noting everything to be in order - everything except Augustine next to her.

She rolled over on her back and looked up at the ceiling, a soft sigh escaping her lips; at least she had been able to get a _little_ sleep in the normalcy of a bed for the first time in what felt like ages. She assumed Augustine had gone out to do whatever it was he did in the middle of the night and frowned more at the horrible thoughts going through her mind as to what that "whatever" might be. It couldn't be _so_ bad, right?; it _was_ Augustine, after all.

The thought crossed her mind that he was off secretly meeting with Lysandre - it wouldn't be the first time he'd tried to keep associating with him a secret from her - but Augustine had been in too good of his usual mood to have encountered his old friend at all. He wasn't quite as adept as she was at hiding his emotions or pushing them down to the depths, hopefully never to be heard from again.

A bright light from outside the small bedroom window caught her eye at that moment - a quick flash that illuminated the darkened forest as if it were daylight. She shot up from the bed and ran the short distance to the window, peering out cautiously. Before the light disappeared completely and gave way to night, she noticed Professor Sycamore standing in front of one of the strangest Pokemon she'd come across in a while. He was fully dressed except for his lab coat - something that made her wonder about his whereabouts even more - and his shoulders were slumped as if carrying something heavy on them.

When he began following the Pokemon away from the cabin and into the forest, Jessie took no time at all to decide that it wasn't fair he still have a secret when he'd gone and figured hers out, hopping into a pair of jeans and sneakers and bolting for the front door. She was going to catch him in the act the same way he had her - it was just _what_ act she was about to witness that made her stomach flip-flop.

Flinging the door open, she barely got one foot out the door before the sound of a Pokeball opening hit her ears, followed by one of the more upsetting sounds in her universe: "_Wooobb_uffet!"

She could swear that it sensed when it was an inopportune time to show itself and, of course, chose that very moment to emerge from its Pokeball. What good were those things if Pokemon could just hop out whenever they pleased anyway?

Turning around in the doorway, she put her finger to her lips and tried to shush it; but it was too late. A sleepy Meowth wandered over from behind the surveillance screens, yawning and rubbing his eye with one paw.

"What's all da hub-bub, bub?"

Jessie took a few seconds to glare at Wobbuffet for a bit longer before turning to Meowth. "I'm following Augustine to find out what dirty little secret he's been keeping, going out at all hours of the night," she huffed.

Waving his hand in the air, he yawned again and shook his head. "Probably just stuff for da project. Maybe dey found sometin'."

She turned her head, watching a faint glow slowly start to disappear into the darkness. "It's not that. I'm positive."

Meowth sighed and padded his to the doorway as well, pausing and looking up at his human companion. "Well, c'mon den. Da last ting we need is yer pal da professor gettin' himself into trouble!"

Staying by Meowth's side and waiting for Wobbuffet to join them, she shut the door behind the trio and started to walk through the forest with her two Pokemon. "You think he's in trouble?"

Shrugging, he used his enhanced kitty eyesight to guide them without incident through the trees and brush. "Ya got another reason he's sneakin' out?"

She frowned and crossed her arms. "Well...he was with a Pokemon! Maybe he's working on something related to mega-evolution."

"He'd tell yas dat, dough, wouldn't he? I mean," he paused to look out from behind a tree, sitting in his best stealth position before pouncing and letting an unimpressed Jessie and...well, Wobbuffet, continue on their way, "he told ya 'bout dat Mewtwonite, didn't he? If dis is bigger den dat..." He shuddered as they reached the treeline separating the deep forest from Geosenge Town, "I hate to tink what kinda mess he might be in."

"Thank you, Meowth," she grumbled, spotting a faint light heading down the path toward the HQ ruins, "that was most helpful."

Noticing the light as well, it was Meowth's turn to frown, walking quickly and quietly with Jessie and Wobbuffet through the town, James's boulder going unnoticed for the very first time. "Dat don't look normal."

"_Really_," Jessie retorted, hiding behind a large rock with her friends and watching with worry as Professor Sycamore followed the strange light down into the work site. "This doesn't make any sense. He's such a stickler for the rules that he always wears his hard hat when going down there."

"Stickler for da rules...don't wanna get ya head crushed...same ting."

Jessie smacked him in the back of the head, rising to her feet and keeping her eyes on rubble. "And where the hell are all the workers? The equipment?" The more she found wrong with the situation, the bigger a frenzy she whipped herself into. Fear and panic bubbled up inside of her, the sickening thought of losing him, as well, nearly making her fall over. If she didn't at least _try_ to figure out what was going on and help him if he needed it, the worry would make her catatonic - possibly worse if it turned out that he _did_ need help and she ran away.

Meowth hissed after her as she began to walk with purpose to the entrance, "What're ya doin'?! Are ya crazy? We don't know what's goin' on down dere!"

Hissing back at him, she replied, "That's what I'm going to find out!"

Running to catch up with her, Wobbuffet not far behind, Meowth argued, "What if it's sometin' real bad, Jess? We don't got weapons or nothin'! We're sittin' Ducklett!"

"I have you and Wobbuffet, don't I?" she shot back as they reached the entrance of the work site, Jessie peering down and furrowing her brow in confusion at the lights below that shone on the wooden ladder used to climb down.

"Uh-uh. No way!" he said. "I ain't 'bout to risk my tail for dis! And since when do you depend on Wobbs, dere, huh?"

Spinning to face them both, she growled at them, "Since it's my fucking _Pokemon_. And you -" she stopped herself, body language and voice becoming less tense with aggravation, "you're my friend. Not only should it matter that Augustine is someone I care about but he's been wonderful to you, too. You owe him, Meowth."

Sighing and slumping his shoulders, he nodded his hanging head a bit. "Yer right, Jess. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry, just help me find Augustine," she said, climbing down the ladder.


End file.
